Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was wrapping up a visit to a political science class at the University of Virginia Monday when she received an unexpected send-off: a spontaneous chorus of the school's fight song.

Free the haggis! Thousands of Americans had to make do without the real thing Friday night when they sat down to what should have been a filling meal of boiled sheep's stomach stuffed with minced sheep lung, heart, liver and oatmeal. Jan. 25 was the 248th anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns. (He wrote Auld Lang Syne, among other things.)

Movies are all about story arcs, and there's no better plot-propelling device than New Year's Eve, that champagne-and-confetti soiree when old gives way to new. But how well do Hollywood's Auld Lang Syne moments mirror real life? USA TODAY examines five film plots that unfold on the last day of the year for a read on whether life can imitate art.